“Skullface has demons with him,” Richard explained. “A lot of them. If they came this way, they would have trampled through all this mess. Nothing is crushed or splattered though. A horde of demons did not come this way. If they went anywhere, it was down this slip road.”
Corporal Martin looked at the small road leading down the woody embankment and apparently thought about it. Stapled to a tree, a fading blue poster flapped against the rain's onslaught. CASTLE FAIRGROUND. BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
“I suppose we should visit the fair, Richard.”
“I doubt there’ll be candy floss.”
They pulled away from the main road, leaving the overturned lorry in their wake.
They took things slowly, the battering rain making the journey no easier. The slip road was old and cracked and led down into a quaint village with white-painted cottages with thatched roofs. The tallest building was a stone church, but even that was small by typical standards. Desiccated corpses littered the small grassy common in the village centre.
Corporal Martin groaned. “There must have been a bunch of people holding out here. How long did they survive before… this?”
Richard bit his lip and imagined Dillon like this, dead and rotting. “This has to stop.”
“No shit.”
“I wish I could kill every one of them. They deserve to pay.”
Corporal Martin sighed but said nothing. What could he say? That humanity had lost, and the demons would never pay? It didn’t need saying.
It didn't need fucking saying.
“I think the fairground is over there,” said Richard, trying not to let his mind fly away. “Takes us in.”
They took a turn and headed towards a Ferris Wheel peeking out behind the church. They found it standing in a wide-open field, alongside Waltzers and Bumper Cars, a Fun House and Ghost Train. The Ferris Wheel took up the centre of the fairground, and from each of its spokes hung a corpse. Inside its bottom capsule, Alice and Dillon sat in traumatised silence.
“We found them,” said Corporal Martin, mouth agape. “They're here.”
Richard put his hand on the door release, but fingers appeared around his other wrist.
“Just wait a minute,” said Corporal Martin. “Look!”
There were demons everywhere, hidden amongst the grisly ornaments and dilapidated rides. Dozens. Not hiding, just dormant.
“We have no ammo,” Corporal Martin added. “They’ll rip us apart if we go down there.”
Richard tensed his arm where Corporal Martin was grabbing it, wondering if he should pull free and make a run for it, but then he calmed down and took a breath. “My son is right there, alive. How much longer until that changes?”
“If Skullface wanted to kill him, he would have already done it, surely. Something else is going on.”
He was right. Something else was going on.
Skullface appeared then from behind the Ferris Wheel, flicking blood from the gaping throat of a severed head. It hadn't belonged to a human, but a demon. With the blood, Skullface seemed to be making a circle around the ride. Inside the capsule, Dillon and Alice remained sitting in terrified stasis. Richard couldn’t sit idly by while his son endured such horror.
“It looks like he’s performing some kind of ritual,” said Corporal Martin.
“I don’t care what he’s doing. This is the end for that abomination. Whatever it takes, I will kill him.”
There was a bang on the back wall behind them in the van. The rest of the group, riding inside the cargo space, no doubt wanted to know why they had stopped.
Richard winced. “Shut them up before—”
The banging turned frantic. The van rocked on its suspension so violently that Corporal Martin and Richard fell against each other, knocking heads.
Terror filled Corporal Martin's eyes, and he pointed through the windscreen. “Shit! They’ve spotted us!”
Sure enough, Skullface stopped before the Ferris Wheel and stared right up the hill towards the van.
“Shit!” Richard pulled the door handle and tumbled out as the van continued rocking. He stumbled around to the side and then to the back door, which was still closed. The men and women inside were screaming. What was going on in there?
Hands trembling, Richard grabbed the rear latch and yanked open the back.
Chaos met him.
“Help!” someone screamed, but it was already too late. Two primates tore through the van’s cargo bay like the wild animals they were, slashing throats and raking eyeballs. Together, and in such close confines, the demons could slice apart the trapped humans with ease. The metal bed of the van grew slick with blood, and it began to pour from the rear lip onto the grass at Richard’s feet.
One soldier slumped to his chest on the van's floor and crawled towards Richard with his arms out imploringly. “W-we opened the door. W-we thought it was you.”
Richard choked on his own vomit. Skullface had known the entire time they would be coming. Had probably known of their presence the moment they arrived in the village.
“Come on,” shouted Corporal Martin in his ear. “It’s too late. We have to get out of here.”
Richard clenched his fists and bit his lip hard enough to taste blood. “No. I’m tired of running. Dillon is here.” He pulled the combat knife from the sheath at his belt and left the bloodshed in the van. The screaming victims were bleeding out and the demons would silence them within the next few seconds. In the end, they had died as he'd feared they would, like frightened lambs. And he had played a part in that. They had followed him to their deaths in less than a day.
So, it was left up to him to make the bastards pay.
Corporal Martin dodged out of Richard’s way as he sped down the grassy embankment towards the fairground. The demons below gathered to meet him, but they underestimated his furious haste. He passed by the first bunch of demons before they had a chance to grab him, and the next group that got in his way found themselves barged to the ground like kittens hit by a locomotive. Skullface lay right in his path, and he raised his knife, ready to bury it in the bastard’s eye socket.
Dillon saw him coming and screamed. There was hope in his voice.
But there was no way to save him.
Richard would at least get them both a little payback. He threw his body through the air, knife out in front of him. The bellow spilling out of him sounded like it came from a bear.
Skullface raised an arm to protect himself, but it was too late. Richard had the force of a broken man behind him, and he would not be denied his vengeance.
Something struck Richard in mid-air, knocking the wind from him and sending him into a spin. A demon appeared in front of him and tackled him to the ground while another set upon his wrist and wrenched away his knife. Within a single second, he was being held down by the arms and legs, a demon crushing every limb.
Skullface glared at him and cackled. “You’re just in time. Say goodbye to everything your son ever was.”
Richard fought and wept, wept and fought.
From up on the grassy hill, the screams from the van had stopped.
Everyone was dead.
Guy Granger
The earth shook and the pouring rain formed vibrating puddles on the ground. Guy wondered if the explosions coming from Portsmouth were the drumbeats of humanity’s last moments. Was this the end of the End?
Alice? Where are you, girl?
Rick snatched the radio from one of the soldiers and tried to get through to someone on the other end. Wickstaff answered. “Bit busy right now, chaps.”
Rick seemed surprised to get an answer, and it took him a second to answer. “W-What’s happening?”
“The buggers are storming the walls, what does it sound like?”
“Do we need to turn back, come join the fight?” asked Guy.
Silence… Then: “We’re holding our own, for now. They might have the numbers, but they’re as thick as shit sandwiches. Our big guns are flattening them. We’re n
ot out of the woods, but—” a massive explosion rumbled in the background, “— but our tactics are working. What you chaps need to do is close that sodding gate and let us kill Lord Amon. He’s keeping his distance, but—” another explosion “—but once he joins the fray, we won't be able to do anything to stop him. Close that gate, Rick. Be the rock star you were in a previous life.”
Guy’s eyes went wide. “That’s why I recognise you!”
Rick waved his hand at him irritably. “We’re a little stuck at the moment, General. The demon horde coming your way formed up around us and we had to go to ground in an old cinema building.”
“The Trescott?”
“Um,” Guy looked up at the scaffolding; he thought he spotted a faded sign. “The name is covered up by construction at the moment, but I think I see a picture of a popcorn carton.”
“Yep. I know where you are,” said Wickstaff. “Hold on to your arses, chaps.”
The radio clicked and hissed. Rick lowered it and frowned at Guy. “She cut off the call.”
“Maybe the enemy broke though. The fighting sounds bad.” It was an understatement. Gunfire, explosions, and screams mingled like a clash between dragons. Or gods. The urge to go back and join the fight was persuasive, but Wickstaff had been clear. She wanted that gate closed.
And Guy wanted his daughter.
“Incoming!” One of the soldiers in their group shouted.
Guy glanced up and saw a streak in the grey sky.
The ground leapt beneath their feet, and a soul-rattling roar obliterated their hearing. Fire leapt up in the distance, visible over the palisade walls. Every man and woman hiding out at the cinema tumbled to the ground.
Rick covered his ears as he lay face down in the mud. “What the Hell?”
“She’s buying our escape,” said Guy, understanding what Wickstaff had meant when she said to hold on to their arses. “She’s pointed some of Portsmouth's artillery our way.”
“She'll bloody flatten us,” said Keith, lying nearby. His hair had slipped, exposing an impressive bald spot.
“No,” said Guy, shouting over the din as another shell hit nearby. “She knows the area. The shells won’t hit us. We need to leave while the enemy is distracted.”
Rick climbed onto his knees, sweat beading on his temples. He didn't look good. “Keith's right, we'll die if we go out there.”
“What other chance will we get?” Guy stood up and brushed himself off. Disturbed air buffeted his untucked shirt. “Everyone get to your feet, we’re getting out of here, right now. Keep your heads down and pray.”
Nobody looked happy, but nor did anybody argue.
Guy knew he would have to be the first out of the parapet, so he approached the wooden palisade and started stripping away the barricade the men had built. His hands turned to ice beneath the onslaught of icy rain that had come back with a vengeance in the last hour, and his fingers were clumsy and numb. Rick came to help, and together they shoved the obstacles aside moving the wooden panel they had placed over the gap.
Fire and brimstone awaited. The world was flame and screaming beasts ran rampant.
A demon leapt at Guy standing in the gap. Rick threw up his hand, and the creature blinked out of existence.
Guy stared at Rick in awe. “Neat trick.”
“Tricks are for kids. What I have is moves.”
“Nice moves, Rick Bastion.”
Rick groaned, but he smiled too.
Keith collided into the back of them. “Move your arses!”
The group put their heads down and piled out into the road. Nearby, concrete curled up in a flaming crater and a single-story garden centre collapsed in on itself. If another shell hit within fifty metres of them, they were done for. More demons lay in their path, but the creatures were shaken and confused. Some burned to death on their knees. Wickstaff’s reign of fire was enough to terrify the minions of Hell. The woman was a force.
Soldiers opened fire and Guy had his sailors—now marines—do the same. Combined, they cut a path and moved onwards.
Another shell exploded. The air grew hot and whipped at them. Burning demons squealed like Guinea Pigs.
Keith laughed, popping off shots from a revolver. “Enjoy your agonising death, you fuckers.”
“Come on,” Guy urged. “We have to be gone by the time the demons recover.”
Everyone moved. Ahead lay the countryside, farmland separating Portsmouth from the next towns over. If they could just get to the tree line…
More demons formed up ahead, reinforcements coming from outside the blast zone. Unlike their shell-shocked brethren, these creatures still had their wits about them.
“Form up,” Guy said to his marines. The soldiers readied themselves, too, happy to take orders.
The demons approached slowly. Their black eyes smouldered. Rancid hides slick with rain.
Guy raised his hand, then dropped it. “Fire!”
The demons screeched. Gunfire replied. They danced frantically as bullets tore up their bodies, but they moved forward relentlessly, bodies piling up in a carpet. As soon as one demon fell, two more would clamber over its corpse. It was a surge, an enveloping wave that could not be held back.
“They keep coming,” said Keith, firing endlessly from his large revolver, which he reloaded after every six shots. For a civilian, he was rather adept. “We can’t hold them off.”
Keith was right, and Guy hated to admit it. More demon reinforcements were arriving and seemed to have no end in sight. Soon, the soldiers would run out of bullets. Guy glanced over his shoulder, searching for a retreat, but the demons scattered throughout the blast zone had started to recover.
Guy breathed heavy. They were surrounded.
I’m sorry, Alice. I wish I could leap into the sky and fly to you, but instead, it looks like I will die right here.
The explosions had stopped, not just nearby, but at Portsmouth too. The fighting had entered a lull, as prolonged battles often did. But the men at Guy’s side continued firing whatever rounds they had left.
They would go out fighting.
“I’m out of bullets,” said Keith, turning his revolver sideways so he could use it as a bludgeon. “Nice plan, Rick. We almost made it ten miles out of Portsmouth.”
Rick glowered at his brother. Instead of firing a weapon, he waved his hands like a magician, and demons cartwheeled as if struck by invisible wrecking balls. “Stop being so negative, Keith. For once in your life.”
Keith huffed. “What’s there to be happy about? We're about to get torn apart by monsters.”
“Good point.”
The soldiers ran out of ammo, one by one. Each now held their rifles like clubs, ready to fight till the end. It wouldn't be long now. They looked at one another, bracing themselves.
A shadow fell over them.
The rain turned sideways as a mighty wind displaced it.
Guy glanced up and saw a roaring beast.
A dragon had left Portsmouth.
And the dragon spewed fire.
The duel rotary guns mounted beneath the Apache attack chopper’s wings unleashed a swarm of hornets at the ground, spitting up dirt and cement, and beating two dancing trails towards the enemy.
“Thank you, Wickstaff,” said Rick. “I could kiss her.”
“She'd knock your block off,” said Keith.
A crimson cloud formed as demon flesh disintegrated. Twisted limbs shattered and heads exploded.
Within seconds, an entire legion of demons had been reduced to a writhing stream of leaking flesh.
The Apache tilted, swooped upwards, and disappeared back towards Portsmouth.
“Let’s go,” said Guy. “We can thank that pilot later, after we win.”
The soldiers and marines cheered. Then they got the Hell out of there—double time.
General Wickstaff
Wickstaff could barely speak her mouth was so dry. It felt like she’d been shouting orders for days, but the fighting had been going on
less than two hours. In that time, she had barely lost a man. Most of the human casualties had occurred in the opening moments of the conflict, after the demons first attacked, but now, her forces were entrenched, expending an endless supply of ammo. The naval artillery had proved the real boon. Whenever an enemy came at you en mass like the demons were, you could easily flatten them with overlapping spreads of bombardment. And they had plenty left in reserves. At this rate, the naval guns could keep firing all day, and the demons would lose long before that.
Already, she estimated a thousand enemy dead at the cost of only two-dozen men. She’d even found time to rescue Rick and Guy, encircled up at that old cinema house. Her scouts had mapped out the entire city for her weeks ago, which was why she'd had no problem finding the right coordinates to suppress. She’d spared a chopper too to check out the results. The pilot reported seeing Guy and the others making a break for it.
If they close that gate and we take down Lord Amon, we might just win this. Should it be this easy?
“We’re holding our entire perimeter,” one of her Lieutenants reported. “We lost Ingress 6 early on, but we set off the charges and blocked it. Since then, the enemy have been wading into our kill zones like lemmings.”
Wickstaff nodded curtly. “They’ve won every battle until now because of sheer numbers. Their army is grunt heavy, and all they know is how to overwhelm and terrorise. But we will not be overwhelmed, and we will not be terrorised. We cannot afford to be. Inform all squad leaders not to grow complacent. The enemy are not out of ideas yet, I assure you. We must be ready for whatever they try next.”
“General! General Wickstaff!”
Wickstaff sighed, wishing for just a single second to breathe and relax. The battle was non-stop.
Maddy was the one calling her. The younger girl with blonde hair hurried alongside her. Diane, was it?
Hell on Earth- the Complete Series Box Set Page 75
